Bill Cravener

It’s looking bad for Mitt Romney when even conservatives are beginning to question why the Republican nominee for President of the United States won’t release more then just a couple of his tax returns. It is what those who run for President do voluntarily so folks can see if they earned their place honestly. So, I too ask, what is it Mitt Romney is trying to hide?

Democrats have been calling on Mitt Romney to release more than one year of his tax returns with a series of web videos and public statements. So far he has released only his 2010 returns and an estimate of his 2011 returns. Romney’s unwillingness to release anything beyond these two years raises the question, if it’s worth the bad press to keep the tax returns private they must contain something even worse.

The analysis I am seeing is that unless there is a major downturn in the US economy between now and the election, Obama will coast into his second term. There is little doubt that the Tea party side of the Republicans will do anything to bring the US economy down to try and get a win but it would seem so far that this damage is not within their capacity.

Bill Cravener

There is quite a bit of hype that we hear on mainstream media over here Steve about how bad the economy is and how high the unemployment rate is but much of it is bullshit. If you go to the Google unemployment rate data link I list below and pick any US State you will see that it’s only a few States that are experiencing high unemployment. Most States are experiencing much less then the 8.2 percent unemployment rate then the media and the conservatives would have us believe. Regardless of what State one retrieves data for it is very clear that under the Obama Administration the unemployment rate of all States is going down.

they typically only report those collecting unemployment benefitsthey don't show you how many people have run out of benefitsor stopped looking for jobs, altogethereverything is sunny for the guy making the graph - he has a job - lol

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Bill Cravener

Jobs are there, plenty of them, for the right skills. I remember when I was young and there were mill jobs available all about the country but then the steel and tube mills begin shutting down and left many jobless. There were lots of jobs available back then just as there are now but many of those who lost their jobs refused to seek another means to make a living. I know folks, most in their 40’s and 50’s, who could start work tomorrow but refuse to accept a job that pays them less then they made before. They’d rather give up and sit on their ass then to take a job doing something else that pays them less. I’ve never been that way and have done what ever it takes to make a buck (as long as it was legal). Now retirement is getting near after over 40 years of busting my ass any way I had to in making a buck and in seven months I can sign up for Social Security. I’ll continue to work part time to add to that monthly SS check I’ll be receiving until I’m physically unable to work. I’ll be damned if I’ll sit around doing nothing all day and I’d even shovel shit if that’s all there is to do, at least it would be something constructive.

i suppose it depends on locationwhen i go up to Michigan, i see a lot of machinists doing odd jobs - roofing, carptentry, paintingit's a shame to let all that skill sit dormantmakes me think "what can we make that needs to be machined" :P

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Bill Cravener

In a recent Talent Shortage Survey conducted by employment agency Manpower Inc., employers around the country cited skilled trade positions as the most difficult openings to fill. There is a great demand for skilled trades here in PA and Ohio. If you’re a skilled pipefitter, electrician, big equipment operator, machinist, welder, diesel technician or HVAC technician there are many jobs to be had. These skills are paying anywhere from $30,000 up to $60,000 a year. Much of this demand is for skilled not apprentice employment and is do to the growing Marcellus Shale industry. Reality is there is a need for these types of skills no matter where you look here in the US.

This situation is typical in many of the western countries, years of shafting skilled tradesmen (and women) and then wondering why there is no-one left to do the work. My trade as a toolmaker died in the 1970s as the work was shipped overseas so after some time looking for work then building a small business which I ran for 10 years I went into software which at least fed me until about 2000.

As far as my trade skills I will take them to the grave with me, the only thing I do now in engineering terms is maintain and sharpen all of my own tools.

Bill Cravener

This is a guy that wants to lower taxes for the wealthy and raise them for everybody else, a guy who insists that corporations are people too and yet because he’s not Obama the morons on the right will vote for him. :icon13:

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Bill Cravener

This guy Romney is a jack-off; his Romneycare which he got passed as governor he stated is a good thing, now he praises Israel’s health care system stating their government-run health care system works, and yet the first thing this jack-off wants to do if elected president is to kill Obamacare. Hypocrite!

It's not the left and right wing nuts you should be worrying yourself about, their votes cancel each other out. It's all the blue and white collar middle class who are worried about their jobs, if they still have them, and their health care costs rising, if they still have coverage. Are your health care premiums going down, sales, property and income taxes? Probably not. Are public sector workers getting their usual 3%+ year-on-year raises, while everyone else is stagnating or going backward? You've got a lot of angry and disenfranchised voters out there, worry about them. After 4 years most are going to vote for some "Change", even if they don't like either of the choices.

So Romney is a tool, show me a politician that isn't, it's part of their self aggrandizing DNA.

Foreign bank accounts? Who cares, you have to report them to the Treasury and pay taxes just like any in the US, except there is more paper work.

Want to fix health care and pensions, tie the politicians to the SAME plans and rules as everyone else, and pay them last. Otherwise they'll keep kicking the can down the road.

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It's a pity the clowns in Washington DC don't understand the Constitution as well as Edward Snowden